


Broadcast Your Darkest Secrets to Me

by Nafmas



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Dark Secret Tattoo, Eventual Happy Ending, M/M, Magical Tattoos, Mentions of past abuse, Multi, Suicidal Thoughts, Tattoos, hints at past abuse, mentions of past rape, not too in-depth yet, soulmates?, suicidal thoughts-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-03-17 13:28:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3531038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nafmas/pseuds/Nafmas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He walked down the street with his hood draped carefully over his hair a few strands within his view. He felt gross a feeling that was nothing new to him anymore. The red curls easily soaked through and stuck to his old glasses. He didn't have a plan. Not anymore. Not after noticing how many had appeared on his skin. </p><p>In a world where everyone is forced to have their darkest secrets displayed on their body as a tattoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Be My Beacon in This Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first thing I am thinking of making an actual series of. Let me know if you would like me to continue.

He walked down the street with his hood draped carefully over his hair a few strands within his view. He felt gross a feeling that was nothing new to him anymore. The red curls easily soaked through and stuck to his old glasses. He didn't have a plan. Not anymore. Not after noticing how many had appeared on his skin. He just walked. His hair was so long at this point. He’d thought about shaving it, but was nervous more secrets would bleed from his past onto his skin.

In this world, nothing was sacred. Everything was taken at face value. Seeing your darkest secrets broadcasted across your body. In dark black script, the secrets even darker than the black, and Michael’s were darker than most.

Then they appeared in his view. The three of them glowing like bright beacons in the darkness. The man with tattoos decorating his skin bumped into Michael slightly, as it was hard for the five of them to stand next to each other.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” He said as he turned to Michael.

Michael was speechless as he looked at the man. His light blue eyes hooded and calm, as if this world didn't bother him at all, like it didn't take every bit of someone’s pride and tear it to shreds. “How?” Michael croaked out.

“What?” The man asked as he turned to Michael.

“How can you just,” Michael coughed, ending his sentence.

“Are you alright?”

Michael looked into blue eyes as his own eyes flickered and he fainted.

 

“Hey, do you think he’s alright?” A British voice asked through the haze.

“I don’t know Gav, he just fainted, I couldn't just leave him there.” the man with the tattoos said.

The British voiced Gav huffed as he sat in a chair nearby. “I’m not saying that, right? I’m just asking if you think he’s okay?”

The second voice huffed back at Gav, “I dunno ask Jack, he’s the one that patched the poor guy up,”

There was shuffling, “Well, Beardy?”

A third voice broke through the silence to Michael, “Well, he should wake up anytime now.”

Michael shifted his weight and tried to open his eyes. The room was bright, one of the brightest and cleanest things he’d seen in a few years. “Wh-”

Gav made some kind of bird squawk. “Jack, Jack, look he’s awake!”

“Shhh, Gav, he’s probably overwhelmed.” Jack chastised Gav. “Hey, bud, how you doing?”

Michael’s eyes finally adjusted to the light in the room. “Where am I?” He croaked, barely audible and understandable.

“Here,” The bearded man, Jack, handed Michael a glass with water. “You’re in our apartment. I’m Jack. The loud British idiot squawking over there is Gavin. And you bumped into Geoff on the street,”

At his name Geoff gave a slight wave to him. Gavin smiled brightly at Michael from his perch on the chair in the room.

“What’s your name?” Gav asked.

Michael took the glass of water looking into it before carefully, but quickly downing the whole thing. Then he started, “Michael… uh...Wh-”

Gavin interrupted once more, “Micool! Such a lovely little name, Micool! I’m glad you’re okay, you just went out. One second, you were asking Geoff a question and suddenly you were just out, and we couldn't just leave you there, so here we are,” He ended with an even bigger smile than before.

Michael looked down at his hands, printed were the words, ‘Atte-’

“Did you…” Michael paused looking at Jack, “See them?”

“See what?” Jack asked.

Michael paused. “The…” He pulled his tattered sleeves down further over the script, “My... secrets…”

Jack gave a soft smile, “No, that’s your business,”

Michael looked down again, “The world seems to think otherwise…”

“We don’t push and we also don’t give a shit.” Geoff said as he showed his arm to Michael, the word ‘Polyamory’ was traced in beautiful lace around the print making it look less like a secret, and more like he meant to put it there. “So any secrets you think could be dark, only need the right shading.” Geoff said to Michael as he winked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gavin said as he shoved Geoff’s hand away from his chest. “Geoff’s just a giant mushy mush. Not everybody has as pleasant ‘dark secrets’ as the Great Geoff Lazer Ramsey.”

“Your middle name is Lazer?” Michael asked.

Geoff let out a full laugh, and Jack joined in too. Gavin joined in after a bit and finally Michael joined later. It had been so long since he had laughed. It was so hard anymore.

After they had calmed down, Geoff turned to Michael. “That’s a longer story I’ll have to tell you someday.”

Jack turned,”Uh, Michael, I, uh, don’t know if you want us to call anyone, or anything...”

“Uhh,” Michael paused as he tugged more on his sleeve, “No, there isn't really…”

“Well, If I can speak for the rest of us lads,” Gavin exclaimed, “You can stay for as long as you need, we've got tons of room!” Gavin gestured to the room.

“Mmhmm.” Jack nodded.

“How?”

“What?”

“How can you just...?” He looked up at Jack the man had a kind way about his words and motions. It reminded him of a giant teddy bear that was nervous he would break everything. Then he looked to Gavin. Gavin seemed like an odd guy, too much energy, like a six year old trapped in a twenty-something. Michael finally let his eyes settle on Geoff, the man he had seen on the street. He seemed just like he did that day, like nothing in the entire world could bother him. “Just go on. Like this world isn't tearing you apart from the inside.”

There was a bit of silence. “Because sometimes, putting the pieces together are a lot easier than you thought they were.” Geoff smiled at Michael.

“Alright, alright enough of you mushy mush,” Gavin shoved Geoff toward the door. “Come Jack, let’s let little Micool get changed, and then he can meet the rest of the crew,”

Michael looked up at Gavin, “Rest of you? How many of you are fucking?”

Gavin, Geoff, and Jack all laughed, “Five, if you were actually asking,” Jack added as they left the room to Michael.

How could a group of five get along in this fucked-up world.How could they manage to survive without being eaten from the depression. No secrets here. And yet. Michael couldn't help but wonder, what if that five were six?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if you want more to this, I'd love to write all of their little dark secrets. I'm also a terrible person and put only a little bit of Michael's in and only showed Geoff's, so, yeah. Let me know!  
> New Note! Thing, ok I've gotten a ton of feedback. So I am definitely writing another chapter! Also looking for a beta for later lemme know if you would be interested in that. I look forward to seeing you guys in the new one :D
> 
> My tumblr is jackyourpattillo.tumblr.com if you want to leave prompts. Or harass me. Or tell me I'm pretty. Or ignore me, these are usually ignored anyway...  
> <3 you!


	2. Wash Away My Secrets and Sweep up the Rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> Thank you for all the wonderful feedback, I have some more quesitons for you guys at the end, but thank you for all the support and I look forward to where this story will take me!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING For mentions of suicide and stuff. It's nothing too in-depth yet... but... yet. So later in this fic I plan to go into it... yeah.
> 
> But Please Read and I'll see you at the end of it!

Michael stood from the soft sheets of the bed. And walked over to the dresser on the far side of the wall. Folded neatly on the light wood were a pair of jeans, a shirt and a hoodie. Michael stroked their softness before picking them up.

He looked through the room. It was mostly bare. Almost like a hotel. There were two doors. The one on the left was the door the three men had left earlier. He turned the copper knob of the door and peered into a bathroom. it was just as clean as the room he woke up in.

Michael stripped his old tattered hoodie and his jeans with tears on the knees and bottom from walking in them. They were too big for him now, but they were the only pair he had left. They dragged on the floor when he walked and his sneakers tore them a bit. The knees were probably worn from how often he rubbed his clammy hands on them. Or how many times he fell over the torn bottoms.

He pulled off his dirty sneakers and socks as folded them all and set them to the side.

He. Couldn't take these clothes from them, he'd just wash his old ones and wear those when he left.

He turned the faucet and hot water poured from it creating steam. It had been too long since a shower. He couldn't remember the last one. He did remember it was nowhere near as luxurious as this one. The pressure was just right and the heat seemed to wash aways his worries about being in a place he didn't know. He washed his hair and noticed how long it was. He probably used too much body wash washing the grim of years on the streets. 

Michael had many secrets across his body. The one most difficult to hide was his worst. 'Attempted Suicide' was written in dark cruel script. A curse he was forced to live with for the rest of his life.

Now Michael would easily, if asked, admit that he was depressed. Michael knew that he was in a better place than he had been that day. The day that she say what was written across his back as she tried to kiss lines down his back making him feel better about his strict parents. But she didn't know. He never told her, from fear that she would push him away too.

The water began to run cold so Michael stepped out of the shower and took the off-white towel from the hook nearby. He shook his hair a bit and looked at himself in the mirror. It had been a while since he'd seen one. Pull in through drawers until he found one, Michael took the buzz razor to his auburn curls.

Michael had felt cleaner than he had in the months before he was on the streets. Here he was just Michael. Here there were no expectations. No judgment. He wanted to stay forever. 

He knew he couldn't. Michael planned to only stay the night. He'd leave as soon as the sun rose the next morning. It was a promise me made as another chunk of his hair fell to the floor.

It was odd seeing himself again. Buzzing all his hair felt like the final transformation. 'Expectations' Depression. 'The World is Wrong' Depression. And then this. This... nothing. No one. Just a whisper. And Michael embraced that change.

Without any hair left, Michael took the clean clothes the boys had loaned to him and put them on, relishing in the feeling of the soft used, but not overly used feeling in them. ‘People like Grapes’ was stretched across Michael’s thin chest. The shirt was a little small, but the hoodie was too big, and the jeans were just right. It was oddly comforting. A weird feeling of home.

Michael shook his head remembering his promise. These aren’t his, and he’s leaving soon. That was that.

He took his old clothes with him when he went into the long thin hallway. The hall smelled nice. Like ‘warm delicious food’ nice. He followed his nose as he was lead into a giant room with a large tv, large kitchen with a bar dividing the room. There was a big table as well. Michael couldn’t help but gape at the beautiful and simple decorations of it all. It was clean, but lived in with trash on the coffee table with receipts, bags of stuff on many of the flat surfaces. The large glass table wasn’t covered though, it was set with six sets of dishes each with neatly folded napkins shaped like swans on the color dishes. It reminded Michael a bit of his home, but at the same time, felt even better. Because there were five people here. Five people that loved each other here.

A small black-haired man in glasses with a beard was the first to see Michael enter the room. “Holy Shit…” He let slip as he paused the game he was playing to stumble to get up really fast. Hearing the man, A dishwater blond sitting next to him turned setting down the paper he was reading on the coffee table and looked at Michael over his reading glasses. Ray walked over to where Michael was standing in the hall and reached out a hand. “I’m Ray. You must be MIchael. Welcome to our home, sorry I wasn’t in there earlier, Ryan and I,” Ray said scratching his neck and quickly gesturing over to the blond, “went to grab some stuff for dinner.”

Michael shoveled his clothes onto his one arm and gave Ray a firm handshake. “It’s cool, I didn’t expect the whole world to stop because I passed out.” Michael laughed. For some reason it came so easily to him around Ray.

“Do you need me to show you, like, the laundry or something?” Ray asked eyeing the pile of old clothes.

“That would be great… uh, also a broom if you have one.”

“Why would little Micool need a-whoa, you cut your hair… all of it.” Gavin announced appearing from around the corner, previously hidden in the kitchen.

“Sure,” Ray laughed at Gavin gaping at Michael’s newly bald head. “It’s down the hall this way,” Ray squeezed past Michael heading back down the hallway.

Michael nodded at Ryan and Ryan smiled in reply returning to his paper. Michael then followed Ray down the hall, hoping that would shake Gavin out of his little stupor.

“Right here,” Ray said opening the closet. “The soap should be,” Ray Paused leaning forward to reach above Michael’s head. “Here,” Ray said grabbing the detergent and handing it to Michael.

He was breathless having Ray in his personal space. Michael hadn’t been close to people since Lindsay. Since his parents. Since Expectations Depression. It was nice, and Michael didn’t remember it being so nice.

“Also,” Ray dragged the word out as he slid his hand in between the wall and the washer, “Ta-da!” He sang sarcastically as he pulled out an old broom. “I dunno why you decided to shave all your hair, but I like it.”

Michael smiled as he took the broom after shoving his clothes, including his old sneakers, into the wash.

“Dinner will be soon, Geoff didn’t know what your favorite was, so he just kind of made spaghetti and meatballs… hope that’s okay,” Ray smiled. “But yeah, when you’re done, You might be able to convince Ryan to play video games with you.” 

“Why’s that?”  
“Ryan’s a real sucker for a pretty face,” Ray winked at Michael. “Just, let me know, I’ll play games with you, even if Ryan is a dick and won’t.” He walked away, leaving a speechless Michael in his wake.

Michael moved into the bathroom to clean up the hair on the floor. When he dumped it into the trash he looked at himself in the mirror again.

“Pretty face, huh?” Michael mumbled to himself as he looked at his skin. He smiled slightly. He could get used to this. The whole smiling thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! Crazy stuff right?!? I hope you liked it!
> 
> As always Let me know what you thought, but I have an extra question for you guys. Would you like shorter chapters like this in shorter amounts of time or would you like longer chapters, but fewer and over a longer amount of time. Just let me know!
> 
> Also looking for a beta, because I am just reading over my own stuff which is fine, but like I dunno if some stuff sounds weird and I would rather have someone that can tell me that kind of stuff, before I send it out there for the public. But this is cool too...yeah
> 
> Alright leave kudos and subscribe and look forward to more! See you later
> 
> <3 you!


	3. Be the Sauce to My Meatballs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a bit longer to update. Busy Life ya-da ya-da you don't care.
> 
> I get a little more into Michael's past. Not enough to warrent super maga trigger warnings. But mentions.
> 
> Same with Gavin.
> 
> I showed off a little bit of everyone's secrets in this chapter, but there are plenty more. And some only hinted at. So have fun!

It was odd, Michael had noted. How domestic the whole thing was, like it wasn’t a big deal that five, incredibly hot men were all living under one giant gay roof together.

And Michael loved it.

In the middle of this Texas heat, in one of the reddest states, he managed to find perhaps one of the gayest and best things in the entire world.

Michael always had problems growing up. He came from a… less than understanding family. Michael grew up in a very religious family. So having words ‘Polyamory’ and ‘Homosexual’ littered across his back was a less than thrilling idea to him. Or his family, as they never let him forget.

Homosexual was always there. Even when he was little, written in a soft cursive across his back. Polyamory came later. Then the attempted suicide came long after Michael stopped showing his parents his body. 

His hip though… that had come before the attempted suicide. Way before that. perhaps only after a few years of being alive. Michael couldn’t remember the time when his hip didn’t read it. He did remember the first day it appeared though. When he had taken a shower afterwards. To attempt to clean the crime committed upon his quickly purpling skin. the day that ‘Abused’ appeared on his skin.

Michael shook his head ridding himself of the thoughts. He finished pushing all of the hair onto the dustpan and dumped it in the trash.

Michael entered the living room again and sat down awkwardly on the large couch. He looked to see that Ray moved to the floor to try another angel at the TV. His face was slack with concentration. He had a tattoo along his right wrist that Michael could see and something across his ankle, but Michael wasn’t in the right angle to read them. After watching Ray for a bit he relaxed more into the couch and looked over at Ryan. Michael could see a little black text poking from his left wrist. Not nearly as big as some of the text that Michael had seen, but the first few letters were just as recognizable to him, ‘Hom-’ was all Michael could see while Ryan was still reading, but Ryan caught his eyes and tilted the rest of the text so he could see the rest of the word.

Michael gave a small smile, and Ryan returned it. “Are you alright now?” He asked with a deep velvety voice similar to Jack’s.

Michael gave a positive noise and pulled the hoodie sleeve further over his left arm. “Yeah, it’s been rough bit though,”

Ryan made a noncommittal noise, “I see from trying to covering it up you don’t want to, but if you ever do, you can talk to anyone. If anyone would understand it’d be Gavin.” Ryan motioned with his head to Gavin poking his head out to stare at Michael from the Kitchen.

Gavin squawked at being caught. “That’s… Rye-Bread... “ Gavin stuck his tongue out at Ryan before looking over at Michael, “Geoff’s letting me make the meatballs if you would like to join me little Micool,” he gave Michael a bright smile and slunk back into the kitchen.

“It’s okay if you go with him, I won’t take it personally, I realized watching me fail over and over again to get an achievement isn’t the most interesting,” Ray didn’t look up as he spoke to Michael.

“Alright,” Michael said as he pushed up off the couch, nodding to Ryan as he went.

Michael walked into the kitchen a beautiful aroma of Italian spices hitting him as he entered. It was one of his favorites, they hadn’t even known. He remembered that Mrs. Tuggey made a wonderful sauce. He thought, for a fleeting moment, what they would be having for dinner before turning back to Gavin.

Gavin seemed to be attempting to make meat cubes instead of meatballs as he saw every meatball so far was somewhat near that shape.

“What are you doing?” Michael asked, as he walked over to the bowl with ground beef in it. “Making meatballs, you sausage.”

“It’s sausage?”

“No Micool, its beef, I’m calling you a sausage.”

Michael blinked at Gavin for a sec before bursting into laughter, “What kind of insult is Sausage! And it’s Michael. And those aren’t even round, their square!”

“Well balls are boring. I thought squares would be nice for a change.” Gavin indignantly replied. “And I like my speech, you mong.”

“Mong!” Michael howled. Gavin’s speech filled the weird emptiness that Michael had been living in. It was like the world was suddenly moving at a reasonable pace rather than the slow crawl it usually was.

“Well, you think you can make better meatballs?”

Michael took a clump of meat and started making the spheres with a slight quirk on his lips. Mrs. Tuggey had taught him how to make really good meatballs, the right size, the correct sphere size and how hot and long to back them so they wouldn’t be burnt on the bottom, but cooked all the way through.

Geoff and Jack occasionally looked over at the two boys from their spot on the stove. “Don’t put the poor boy to work, he barely just woke up,” Jack warned Gavin.

“Look, Michael’s just fine, right boi?”

“Boy?”

“Yup, boi, with an i!”

“Why an i?”

“It makes it better of course,”

Geoff huffed half a chuckle.

Michael turned to Geoff, “Is he always like this?”

“Always.”

The three of them laughed as Gavin squawked again. “I thought you were my boi, Micool!”

“Alright, Alright, I’m your boi. As long as you’re my boi Gav,”

“Always! Little Micool. Always.”

Gavin snuck over to Geoff hugging him from behind. “Hello lovely,” He said giving him a quick peck on his cheek and slipping a pinky into the sauce,

“Hey!” Geoff chastised as he smacked Gavin’s hand away.

“Oy! I just wanted a sneak peek to Geoff’s masterpiece, lovely as always, love.” Gav smiled at Geoff, a piece of basil stuck in his teeth.

Michael laughed from where he was reshaping and re-sizing Gavin’s earlier attempts at meatballs.

“What, are you jealous, little boi?” Gavin scrunched his face at Michael.

“Of the basil stuck in your teeth, oh, absolutely.”

Gavin screeched as he tried to get the offending piece out of his mouth. Geoff and Jack laughed with Michael.

“You’re too witty for your own good, we’ll just have to keep you around,” Geoff laughed some more.

“Does smell good,” Michael noted.

Jack rolled up his right sleeve and stole the wooden spoon from the sauce, Geoff gave out a small wine as Jack held it out for Michael to taste.

Michael Licked the spoon as he read ‘Ex-Convict’ on Jack’s wrist. The sauce tasted delicious and Michael let out a noise of surprise, whether from the sauce or the words, Michael himself wasn’t sure.

Jack licked the rest of the spoon and plopped the spoon back in the sauce as he wiped his hands on the towel that was over Geoff’s shirt. “It’s delicious,”

“Good, because the water is boiling and the meatballs need to go in the oven.” Geoff said as he took the tray Michael was working on and putting them in the oven. “Can you hand me the noodles? They’re in the cabinet right above you,” Geoff said gesturing vaguely toward Michael.

Michael stood on his tip toes as he reached for the box. His shirt pulled with his reach and he grabbed the noodles and handed them to Geoff. Geoff shook his head and smiled to Michael taking the noodles from him. “Thanks,” Geoff said his voice cracking. He cleared his throat as he started pouring the noodles into the pot. Jack moved around Michael, “I’m going to get a glass of water and see what the R and R connection are up to...” He gave a forced smile as he grabbed a glass without filling it and left. 

Geoff set the timer on the oven as he said, “I’m going to see how Ray’s achievement is going…”

Gavin was still standing where he was when Michael had gotten the pasta.

Why was everyone so…

Michael’s hand flickered to his hip where ‘Abused’ was there in dark bloody lettering. He quickly pulled down the hem of the sweatshirt. “Uhh… did you…?”

“Yup.” Gavin said nodding slowly.

“Huh…” Michael said.

Gavin gasped, “Oh!” He said as he pulled his leg up shucking off his shoe.

“Uhh… what are you-?”

Gavin pulled off his sock and shoved his foot at Michael.

‘Raped’ was there in small plain print.

Michael looked at Gavin and Gavin put his foot down and met Michael’s look. Neither looked incredibly uncomfortable or embarrassed. They were two cut from the same cloth. And they both knew they didn’t want to talk about it.

“Okay,” Michael calmly breathed out.

Gavin grabbed his sock from off the tiled floor. “Yeah…” he said taking off his other shoe. “You want to see how Ray’s achievement is going?”

“Yup.”

“Me too,” Gavin said as he picked up the shoes and led them from out the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think. Or even good ideas, because though I have most of their secrets already planned out, I'd love to add more. Just let me know!
> 
> http://jackyourpattillo.tumblr.com/
> 
> <3 you!


	4. Reassurance for the Lost Folks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title is less about what the actual story is about and more about what we can do with the OT6 relationship even though Ray is leaving.
> 
> The actual story is about eating dinner and finding out, things aren't going to plan... yet.

Jack was in the crook of Geoff’s arm when he noticed Michael and Gavin enter the room again. He merely made a quick face before ignoring their quick re-entry.

“Hey,” Geoff said nudging Jack like he hadn’t already noticed them, “We thought you’d be longer.”

“Naw, not much to talk about.” Gavin shrugged.

Geoff paused and nodded before returning back to Ray’s screen. “Alright, well, just, if you want to talk about it.”

“Well, I don’t.” MIchael spat. He quickly regretted being so aggressive. It was a side effect of his harsh past, he cleared his throat before apologizing, “Sorry, I just… I don’t want to talk about it.”

He turned and sat down on the floor. Gavin joining him quickly sitting closer and hanging off of Michael’s every word.

Jack turned to Geoff, “Your tendency to pick up strays isn’t going to work one of these days, you know that, right?”

Geoff gave a small smile and replied, “Not today, it seems.”

Jack playfully shoved Geoff and returned to Ray’s gameplay.

Ray turned to Michael, “Hey, you ever play video games?”

Michael looked startled by the question. He turned to Gavin searching his face as if he would have the answer in his mouth’s odd quirks.

“I, uh, I think once. Long time ago though.”

Gavin exclaimed, “Have you ever heard of Halo?”

“Uh, perhaps in passing, don’t think I’ve ever played it.” Michael scratched his head.

Geoff stood, “I’m going to check on dinner.”

Ryan folded his paper, “I’ll help you set the table.”

Gavin made a face, “Knob, doesn’t wanna talk about his work…”

Michael looked at Gavin, then turned to Ray. “What does Geoff do?”

“Oh he makes a parody tv show of halo.”

Michael paused. “Sounds interesting.”

Ray laughed, “Well, he doesn’t do so much anymore, now he just bosses the rest of them around.”

“Heard that!” Geoff called from the kitchen.

Jack laughed heartily, “Well, when he isn’t doing that, we’re all playing videogames.”

MIchael scrunched his eyebrows together, “Wait, I thought you were talking about work?”

“We are,” Gavin and Jack, and Ryan all said in unison.

Ryan finished placing the glasses and returned to where the four men were sitting. “If you’re at a good stopping point, we can sit down at the table.”

Ray paused the game, “Yeah, no sounds good. the testing works by the way, I should be up to stream later tonight.”

“So wait, you all play video games for a living?”

“Yes, Gavin turned toward Michael. “See most of us make edited content, and Ray streams stuff. It was a recent development, he used to work with us, but-”

“I couldn’t do it! I couldn’t take another minecraft episode!”

The rest of them laughed.

“Yes, and we’ll miss him being incredibly silent and not saying anything.” Geoff answered as he carried the bowl of spaghetti out on the table.

“Fuck you too,” Ray said as he kissed Geoff on the cheek before he said down.

“Come sit near me Micool!”

Geoff sat at the head of the table and Ryan sat at the other end. Jack and Ray sat next to each other and Gavin motioned emphatically towards the seat next to him.

Jack, who sat closer to Geoff, smiled at him and rolled his eyes. Geoff was right. It wasn’t gonna be today.  
“Looks great Geoff,” Ryan said as he grabbed the bowl and some bread to put on his plate.

“Should, slaved over it,” Jack playfully slapped Geoff’s arm. “Michael shaped the meatballs. So if they’re terrible blame him.”

“Hey,” Michael defended, “If I hadn’t stepped in, these meatballs would have been squares.”

“Oy, It was a creative decision,”

“A stupid decision,”

The table laughed again.

“You guys seem to be getting along well,” Jack said after swallowing a big bite of pasta.

Geoff wiped some pasta sauce from Jack’s beard and licked his fingers.

“Well, Micool is pretty cool,” Gavin said in the middle of eating a giant meatball.

“We all know how much you like your balls but swallow for God’s sake.” Ryan said.

“Nice two-fer Ryan.”

“Huh?”

“Swallow.”

“Oh my God, I didn’t even notice.”

Michael laughed at the interaction. “Is it like this all the time?”

Michael asked Gavin as the other chatted.

“Yup! Well, we go to work too, but yeah, pretty much”

Michael made a thoughtful noise.

“You can stay here as long as you like.”

Michael modded slowly, then shook his head, “Oh, I have go off actually.”

The entire table grew silent.

“You’re leaving?” Jack asked as the others just stared.

“Yeah,” Michael shrugged. “It’s been great, I just have places to be and stuff. You guys must understand…” Michael had grown particularly good at lying to people. He wanted nothing more than to stay, but he knew if he did, he wouldn’t leave. And they already looked so happy. Who needs some weird street-rat invading their lives.

“But-”

“Wow, I am tired, I think I’m gonna clear my dish and go to bed. Thank you,” He nodded to a frozen Geoff, “The dinner was delicious.”

Geoff managed a small nod as MIchael got up to clear his dish. The rest of the boys sat in silence as they waited for Michael to leave.

“Good night,” Michael said barely above a whisper.

“Good night,” The rest replied without missing a beat.

Michael left to the white room to sleep.

“So,” Gavin said.

“So,” said Geoff.

“So anyone got any ideas on how we’re going to get Michael to stay?” Ryan asked

Gavin nodded, “Oh, it’s not going to be easy.”

“Who said we like it easy, we did get together with you.” Ray replied.

“So we’re all in agreement?” Jack asked.

“Plan ”Get the Redheaded Hobo to become out Sixth Boyfriend” is a go! Part A: “Convince him to stay longer than one night” is in action.”

“And how does this plan actually work Gav?” Ryan asked.

“Oh I thought you were the planning guy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Just thought I'd put a little hello at the end.
> 
> I had someone (snowowl01) ask if I was planning on continuing this fic in light of recent news.
> 
> I just want everybody in the fandom know that it's gonna be ok. And its gonna be really sad, but like it's really gonna be ok. Its not like Ray died. we just need to adjust and be reassured that we all have each other, and this means there may (probably not soon) be another AH member to get excited about. And if not a new member, at least more of Kerry or Lindsay. So Let's believe in our boys, because they're gonna do them and That's fine! (Plus because they didn't say, Ray is still streaming (or going to stream) so you can find him on twitch.)
> 
> Hey this is just a little update again: If anybody is interested in being a Beta Reader, please contact me either in a comment or on my tumblr jackyourpattillo.tumblr.com ok now I'm done
> 
> Alright I'm done. I'll see you guys in the next one.
> 
> <3 you!


	5. You Can Go but Then They'll Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Better Friends has a chat in the kitchen.

Ray was sitting at his desk in the living room removing his headphones. He just finished his stream as he heard an odd metallic clunk. A small whispered curse followed, but it didn’t sound like one of his boyfriends. He stood up and peaked into the hallway to see Michael staring back at him. In his arms were his old clothes in a crumpled pile. He stepped into the hallway put his hand on his hip and asked, “What in the world are you doing?”

Michael looked shocked by Ray’s presence, he jumped a bit when one spoke to the other. “I could say the same for you,” Michael pointed out defensively, narrowing his eyes at the younger one.

“I just finished streaming.” Ray pointed back to the room he just left.

Michael looked down into the clothes in his hands, “Oh,” He looked up again. “You aren’t going to stop me are you?”

Ray paused. “I can’t force you to stay, but I’d recommend you not.” Ray looked into the pile in his hands, “At least not in those,” He gestured.

“What do you mean? These clothes are fine.” Michael said tucking the shirt under his arm and pulling the pants out.

Ray stepped forward and looked through a hole in them at Michael, “For a hobo.” He said pushing the pants from his view.

Michael looked at Ray. “I didn’t want to steal-”

“You should stay. Everybody will be heartbroken if you leave.” He said slowly attempting to take the clothes from his grip.

“I don’t want to imp-”

“No,” Ray slipped the pants from his hands, then shushed him with a finger, “We want you to stay.” Ray took the shoes, “Honestly.”

“Nobody wants me to stay.”

Ray let a small scoff escape his lips, “That’s what I thought when I first got here. But I want you to know that here is where people get better.” Ray shuffled to be in front of Michael and leaned against the wall.

“What do you mean?”

Ray pushed the articles he had collected onto the counter in the kitchen. He then pulled down the collar of his shirt on the left side. “Do you see it?”

There was a small print in grey seeming like it was paling. Looking at it appeared to make the print darker. “Is it...”

“Fading.” Ray nodded. He released his shirt. “Do you know why we get them?” He said retrieving the items from the counter.

“What?”

“The tattoos.” Ray said gesturing with his head for Michael to follow as he made his way into the kitchen.

Michael shifted his weight from foot to foot then followed after him still carrying his old hoodie and shirt. “I've never really thought about it.”

Ray signaled for Michael to put all his stuff on a stool he had pulled out, then turned his back and dug into the freezer. Pulling out two popsicles he gingerly handed one to Michael. Michael quickly dropped his remaining stuff and grabbed the frozen treat from the Puerto Rican’s hand.

Ray unwrapped his popsicle and jumped onto the countertop, he looked down at Michael and fake shouted, “Llllet’s chat.”

Michael giggled as he joined Ray.

Ray swung his feet back and forth looking out over the living room. “It’s things we’re ashamed of.” He said as he watched the moon fade from view.

“Ashamed?” Michael asked as he made an embarrassing pop from the cherry-flavored frozen delight.

“Yeah, they’re our darkest shames and worries. Things we don’t want people to know about us. Things the world thinks everybody should know about us anyway.” Ray licked a bit of the grape that had melted onto his hand.

“Yeah, but why is it fading, it makes your theory a bit flawed.”

Ray made a face as he bit into his popsicle, he shivered, “Why is my ‘theory’ flawed, oh great knowledgeable one.”

“Asshole.” Michael smiled as he bumped his foot with Ray’s still swinging one.

“Ooh, Got ‘em!” Ray snapped back, stealing a lick of Michael’s sweet.

Michael shoved his shoulder against Ray’s. “Why’s Geoff got his on his arm still?”

“You think that’s a secret? Psh, the man’s way too proud of that thing. He got it tattooed after it faded away.”

“So,”

“Yup, that man’s only got one real mark.”

Michael paused the game to look at Ray, “Geoff’s still got a real mark? What could he ever want to hide?”

“That’s not my secret to spill.” Ray shrugged finishing up his popsicle and licking the remains off the stick and sucking on it.

The two sat in silence for a bit, Michael quickly finished his popsicle too. Ray got up and plucked the finished stick from Michael’s lips and put them in the trash.

“How many did you have?” Michael asked hopping off the counter to stand next to Ray.

“Hmm? Only one, you saw me eat it.”

“No, no I mean tattoos.”

“Oh.” Ray closed the drawer and turned to look at Michael, “How many do you have?”

“I have four.”

Ray sucked in a breathe of air. “Three. I had three.”

“How long does it take?” Michael said avoiding Ray’s face.

“Sometimes it never goes away. Geoff’s hasn’t. Not after all this time.”

Michael looked at Ray. “I’ll stay.”

“Good, I was thinking Team Better Friends wouldn’t even get off the ground.” Ray smiled at him.

Michael smiled, “We should go to bed.”

“Probably.” Ray said turning off the light in the hallway.

“Good night, Ray,” Michael smiled as he attempted to grab his stuff from the stool.

“Ah-ah,” Ray said gesturing with grabby hands.

Michael looked down at his old clothes. “Okay,” He said handing them over to Ray. He shuffled off toward the hall when he whispered, “Thank you.”

Ray opened the trashcan and threw out the clothes. He nodded to himself and headed into the bedroom.

The four men lay all asleep sprawled across the bed with a small opening for Ray. Jack shuffled when Ray got in, “How was your stream?”

Ray cuddled closer to Jack. “It was good. Part A is complete.”

Jack looked Ray straight on, “Really?”

He nodded into Jack. “‘Part B: Find out his tattoos and make him feel less bad about them,’ is a go as well, but I’ve done a damn good share.”

“What do you know?”

“Four. He’s got four.”

Jack ruffled Ray’s hair and pulled his close, whispering in his ear, “I knew we kept you for a reason,”

Ray smiled as he relaxed into Jack and fell asleep.

“Four…” Jack whispered. “That’s more than any of us yet… Geoff’s in for an uphill battle.”

“You too,” Ray said with only one eye open.

“All of us.” Jack conceded.

Ray nodded and cuddled into jack again, “All of us, now go to bed, Beardy,”

“Alright, alright.”

A third voice rang through the room, “Seriously you plebs or I’m gonna start moving some long limbs over there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blah Blah Blah  
> Sorry I didn't Update  
> You don't Care  
> Blah Blah Blah
> 
> I'm not saying its ending soon, but I don't trust myself to be able to write a story this long without falling apart so I should end it soon.
> 
> Alright Follow me or not do what you want with your life
> 
> http://jackyourpattillo.tumblr.com/
> 
> See you in the next one hope it's not as far away next time
> 
> <3 you!


End file.
